


Rise of a Guardian

by DuckierGalaxy, Sharkbit11



Series: The Blue Haired Huntress [1]
Category: Destiny (Video Games), Destiny 2 - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2020-05-07 20:09:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19216639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuckierGalaxy/pseuds/DuckierGalaxy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharkbit11/pseuds/Sharkbit11
Summary: Better late than never. The story begins during the tail end of the House of Wolves expansion for D1. Also this normally won't go more that two weeks without a new chapter





	1. Awakening

I've waited so long to find my Chosen, decades, maybe centuries, I couldn't keep track. Now I've found them here in the city of Old London with the help of this Guardian. But even with all the waiting, searching and preparation, I still have to wait even longer because of this Fallen patrol. Their four beating eyes, razor sharp teeth, and four arms wrapped around their rifles. This Guardian with me said they'd be gone by dusk, but the moon is now at it's apex. I feel a finger poke the side of my shell, and turn to my escort. He speaks quietly, "Now's our time to move". I quickly gather my senses and rush over to the skeleton. "Go ahead, if something goes wrong I'll help you" Heather, the Guardian's Ghost says. I tighten my Ghost shell around myself before it expands as I funnel the Light into the ancient corpse on the ground that would be my partner. She gasps and pick their head up, frantically looking around at the ruined remains of Old London. I inspect my Guardian, wearing a white outfit I had made of scraps. I should give her a rundown of what's happening. 

"Hey" I open with, such a stupid line thinking back on it. "I'm glad I've finally found you. Look, we're in danger right now so I can't tell you much, the locals here aren't the most friendly of neighbors" I quickly say. The kind Guardian who escorted me here holsters his gun and walks towards her, picking up what remains of a decayed wallet next to where she lied. He takes a singular card out of it and inspects it, most of it covered in dried blood. "This looks like you, your name was 'Jess' but that's not what you have to be named now.' He tosses the wallet aside, keeping the card. "You look to be a Hunter like myself too, that makes thing easier. I'm GLX-21" he takes his helmet off, revealing his dark blue Exo face plates and dark green lights in his eyes and mouth. There is a giant hole in the top right of his head with pointed metal and some green oil stains. He stands above her and extends a hand with a smile. "J-Jess is fine" she replies. The now named Jess reaches her hand out and GLX pulls her to her feet. "What's going on?" she says, her voice wavering. "Look, if I tell you everything that's happening, you'll want to lie right back down." I reply. I wait a bit before speaking again, "But I'll give you a run down" I say, getting Jess to nod and smile in approval. 

I think to get the bad stuff over with, "You've been dead for centuries, the world is a very different place now" I start with. Jess' smile quickly disappears. "D-Dead!" she yells in panic. GLX quickly rushes to Jess and uses his hand to cover her mouth, softly whispering "Shh, if you're too loud we'll all be dead". Jess looks to GLX and give a nod of understanding, and GLX brings his hand back to his side. "Ahem, as I was saying. I am a Ghost, I now belong to you. Thanks to my powers, I have granted you immortality so long as I'm alive", I stop to let Jess absorb that information. Jess looks down at her hands, "Immortal? As in I can't die?" she asks, curious. "To an extent. But right now I don't think I can resurrect you again, the linking process takes a lot of my power" I reply, waiting a beat before continuing, "We can't wait for it to return here, as you hopefully remember, we're behind enemy lines, we need to sneak out of here".

GLX pulls out a sidearm and hands it to Jess. "Just in case we need to shoot our way out", he gives a nod before putting his helmet back on. Heather and I disappear into our Guardians bodies, viewing through their eyes. I form Jess' helmet over her head and we start moving. GLX takes point with his scout rifle, scanning the areas with tactical efficiency. Jess keeps close, keeping the sidearm at her side. After we traverse a few more blocks GLX motions for Jess to stop. "Movement up ahead, I'd like to keep it quiet but if they shoot return fire" GLX states, crouched. Jess crouches too and they begin to silently weave their was through the enemy patrols. For blocks the pair quietly move around the patrols and buildings, until the silence is broken. Jess slips on a loose piece of debris and falls, her hand tightening around the trigger of her gun and discharging a round in the middle of the street. Jess quickly picks her head off the ground and turns to the other Hunter, "Shit, I'm sorry!" she yells, panicking as the Fallen surround their position. GLX shrugs, stating "I was looking to do some shooting anyways". He quickly draws his hand cannon from it's holster and fires three shots from the hip, blowing the heads off of three Fallen before looking down to Jess with a nod, before getting back to shooting. Jess takes the queue and gets to her feet and aims at a Fallen dreg, but hesitates. GLX notices Jess and gets back-to-back with her. "What's wrong Jess? Is the gun jammed?" GLX asks, shooting any Fallen that gets too close. "I-I can't, it's just as afraid as I am" Jess replies, lowering her gun a bit.

The dreg Jess was aiming at retreats as a Fallen vandal takes it's chance, and runs straight towards Jess with it's two blades drawn. Jess quickly raises her gun and as she closed her eyes, pulled the trigger on her gun. The shot whizzed right through it's torso and the vandal falls forward onto the ground, it's head barely hitting Jess' boot tip. She takes a few deep breaths before opening her eyes and seeing the lifeless corpse on the ground before her. "Fuck!" Jess looks down to the gun in her hand. "I-I killed it... I killed it... Oh god!". GLX places a hand on her shoulder, "You protected yourself is what you did. Nothing to be ashamed about Jess" GLX says in a comforting tone. Jess turns to him, realizing her fear had blocked out the sound of dozens of other gunshots, judging by the pile of bodies on the ground. "I-I don't think I can do this" Jess finally replies. "We can discuss why that thought is wrong later, let's get out of here before any more show up" GLX suggests while loading a new cartridge into his hand cannon and moving forward. Jess silently nods follows his lead.


	2. Escape

As the Fallen reinforcements arrive to the location of the firefight, the Guardians had already fled pretty far north. A Pike team mounts up and speeds after them. It doesn't take long for the Pikes to catch up with GLX and Jess through the streets, making Jess panic even more. GLX keeps his head forward, looking for opportunities. His focus is quickly interrupted by the distinct sound of Pike guns heating up. He quickly sprints up to Jess, giving her a hug from behind. "Hey, now's not the time for a-", Jess' sentence is cut short as she suddenly finds herself in an alleyway. She looks around a bit before speaking. "What just happened? Did you do that?". GLX nods, "Yes, it's called a 'Blink'. I ripped open a wormhole to get us here instead of riddled with holes on the pavement".

There's a sound of rattling getting rapidly closer by the second. "Run!" GLX yells. He keeps behind Jess, to lessen the chance of her taking a bullet as his armor is much more durable than her scraps. Jess just keeps running, not turning back or thinking until GLX gives his first directions, "Next path to the west!". She quickly scans for the path and hastefully turns into the branching alley. GLX quickly follows, but not before dropping a proximity gas bomb onto the inner wall to deter their pursuers. "Third northern path and we'll be at my ship!" GLX shouts, his words barely reaching Jess' ears. Jess keeps her eyes on the right wall, counting each path as she passes. "That's one, next is two and then- What the hell is that!".

A giant mechanical tank with a giant turret blocks the far end of the alley, it's gun guided by a red laser trained on her torso. Jess quickly dives into hallway number two, feeling a rush of air as the high-powered shot is fired at where she was not a second earlier. She gets to her feet and starts running when she hears beeping ahead. Jess sees five objects protruding from the walls ahead of her, each projecting a thin red beam. She quickly stops herself, just before inches away from the lasers. Jess turns back to the way she came, watching as Fallen flood the alley towards her. 'Is this it?' she thinks to herself, staring at her immanent death until they are obscured by a dark mist and a communications link with a familiar voice. "If you jump through that cafe to your west, you'll be on track again." GLX advises. Jess quickly jumps through the bare window frame of the cafe and dashes out the back doorway, finding herself in the third alley. Jess runs north as fast as she can, hoping to get away before the Fallen can figure out where she went. There is the sound of a single set of footsteps on above her.

She looks up at the rooftops and can make out a Fallen vandal running at the same pace as her. Suddenly the vandal falls off of the roof, onto the ground behind her with a loud crunch as it's skull shatters on the cement. She cringes a bit from the sound but looks back up to thankfully see GLX running in place of the vandal, giving her a thumbs up before sprinting ahead. Jess turns her attention back to the path and what she could only assume is GLX's ship comes into view. She hastens herself to not keep GLX waiting. When she gets to the ship the ramp is down and GLX is standing guard with his hand cannon. "We need to hold them back a bit, the ship's engines need to heat up and letting these bugs take shots at our only way out is not preferable. Get inside and get a better gun, your choice.". He says, gesturing for her to enter

Jess steps aboard and is quickly greeted by a busy Heather rushing around. "Armories to your left, and your Ghost's help would be appreciated". Jess' Ghost materializes and gets to work as Jess goes to pick out a gun. She enters the armory and whistles in awe of the beautiful weapons on display. She places the sidearm aside and starts looking at her options but is interrupted. "Five Pikes rolling in on the east side, I need you out here!" GLX shouts. Jess quickly grabs a rifle and hurries outside and takes aim to the east.

As soon as the hover bikes come into view she held down the trigger. "That's a scout rifle, semi-automatic, one shot per trigger pull." GLX tells her. Jess, now slightly embarrassed brings the rifle back up and pulls the trigger four times, one shot sending a rider flying off of his Pike. Jess quickly aims at some more Pike riders, firing the rounds left in the magazine and taking out two more. She takes the empty mag out and replaces it with a fresh one, but before she can pull the bolt, the Pikes are within firing range. Jess desperately leaps for cover and the shots all miss their mark. GLX waited a bit for the Pikes to get even closer before swiftly shooting one turning thruster off of each Pike, causing the riders to lose control as they collide into each other with and explosion of fire. "Ship is ready" Heather says through the comm channel. GLX pulls Jess to her feet and lets her board first and GLX backs up on the ramp as it begins to close, shooting through the gap before it fully shuts. The ship's engines start to whirl loudly as it takes off with immense speed.


	3. Shedding Some Light

"Are you okay?" GLX asks Jess as he enters the cockpit. Jess spins her seat to face GLX and immediately notices a dark fluid pooling on the floor. "You're shot!" She screams, rushing over to him. "Why aren't you here and not patching yourself up!?!", panic making her voice waver as she looks up to his shoulder plate, mangled and leaking. "It's fine. Heather!" He calls out and she quickly flies to his side. "Demonstrate to Jess why I'm not too concerned" He tells Heather, to which she gives as much of a nod as a Ghost could. She projects a bright beam of Light onto the wound for a few seconds, before turning off the beam and swiftly vanishing. Jess' eyes widen, surprised at how quickly and easily the metal plate was repaired. "See what I mean?" GLX gestures to Jess. She looks down in embarrassment as she awkwardly stumbles through an answer, "I-I guess... Is that just a robot thing or?" GLX shakes his head, "One, I'm not a robot... fully, I'm a human in a robot body. Second, yes, you can do that too thanks to your Ghost".

"I'm sorry GLX, I didn't know you-" He quickly cuts her off, "It's fine, you're before my time". "Before your time?" She asks, very confused. "Yes, my kind, Exos, were created well after your death. You died before the Traveler even showed up in our system" GLX sits in the pilot chair beside the new Hunter. "The Traveler? The hell is that?" She questions. "The Traveler, it floats above the Last City of Earth", GLX pauses and looks out the front window. Jess does the same and her jaw drops. "This is the City, and that giant fourteen kilometer in diameter orb above it, is the Traveler." Jess scans the view, taking in the sight of the Traveler's humongous size. She then turns her attention the the vast city, surrounded by a continuous wall to protect it from the presumably hostile wilderness. GLX breaks the silence, "The Ghosts were a gift from the Traveler, granted in it's dying moments, to seek out the dead worthy to rise and defend humanity as Guardians" Jess' Ghost flies to her side, "It's nice to be back in the Traveler's presence again" he remarks. GLX guides the ship into the hanger of a huge tower overlooking the city and surrounding area. "I need to introduce you to a friend of mine once we've docked" GLX says in a cheerful tone. Jess looks to him with a worried look. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll like him" GLX reassures. The ship makes a loud thump as it's landing gear touches down on the concrete floor of the landing bay.

Jess stands up to get to the ramp but is promptly blocked by GLX. "Stand still", He gives a nod to Heather and suddenly their bodies are wrapped in a blinding light. Once her eyes adjust, Jess finds herself on the edge of a beautiful courtyard. To her left she sees a post office and a high-class shop. To her right there is a small tent and a gun shop with an elegant tree out front. In front of her there is a path that leads to a staircase downwards. GLX starts walking and Jess sticks to his side. They walk down the stairs and around the column splitting the stairway into a long room with diamond shaped crests of two crossed swords on a red background. GLX walks past the two counters to a large doorway to the command room, with computers lining the walls. A hooded, light blue exo with what looks like a single horn protruding from the center of his forehead catches Jess' attention. The exo strides over to the pair.

In a cheerful voice he speaks, "If it isn't GLX." He gives him a high-five. The exo uses a hand to jokingly hide his mouth from Jess, "Who's the new girl? Finally got yourself a date?". GLX laughs and places a hand on Jess' shoulder, which she quickly removes with a weak, embarrassed laugh. "No, this is that Guardian I went out to find, she's a hunter so she's your problem now." Jess turns to GLX and stares in disbelief at this side of him. "Cayde-6, at your service", He chuckles a bit after his sentence. "So, you're name is..." he gestures for her to give a response. "Jess" she replies. "Ah, well Jess, I'm the Hunter mentor." he leans in close and whispers, "Not by my own choice" He quickly returns to standing straight, "But new Guardians like you make me love this job!" He takes a heroic stance before turning to GLX. "How'd she do? Has she died yet?" He asks. "No, and I certainly hope not to" Jess replies to the seemingly dumb question. "Ah, I guess that answers that. Let me tell you Jess, death is a part of the job. We Guardians die all the time but our Ghosts bring us back whether we like it or not" He smiles. "W...What... I'm gonna die?" Jess' voice full of concern. "It's not that big of a deal after your first death, in fact let's get it over with" Cayde swiftly draws his hand cannon and points it to Jess' head, then pulls the trigger.


	4. Gun Show

Jess closes her eyes as the hammer of the gun flies forward and hits the firing pin with a click. She waits a few seconds before opening her eyes. "It's not loaded, Tower safety protocol" Cayde says in a joking manner, "But it's gonna happen sooner than later". He holsters his gun and turns to GLX, "Any signs of her connection to the Light?". "No specific element yet, I'm sorry to say. But she definitely does have skill with a gun" GLX states proudly. "Huh, reminds me of you when you were first rezzed, crack shot from the get go" Cayde replies. "Take Jess out to the training grounds, show her a few tricks. And here, pick out a gun for yourself" He says while giving Jess a voucher for the gunsmith. "Thanks Cayde" Jess speaks in an appreciative manner. "Not to worry kiddo. Now I need to get back to boring 'Vanguard Duties'. Here's some advice, NEVER get yourself stuck here like me". Jess silently nods and heads off the the gunsmith with GLX

The two Guardians walk back up the stairs and turns to their left to the gun shop. Jess walks up to the counter and a blue and yellow exo walks over. "Hey, nice to see new face. I'm Banshee-44. What can I get you? A new gun? Ammo?" He speaks in a gruff but friendly tone. Jess shows the voucher and Banshee smirks, “Cayde’s at it again, when will he realize how much Glimmer he’s spending” and quickly ducks under the counter. Jess turns to GLX and whispers, “What’s Glimmer?” He leans close and whispers back, “It’s programmable matter we use for currency.” Jess silently nods in understanding just as Banshee pops back up with five different firearms. “So these are the four different guns you can get with the voucher. You can pick either an Auto Rifle, Pulse Rifle, Scout Rifle, or Hand Cannon” Banshee states proudly. “Which will it be?”

Jess begins to carefully looks all of the guns over, "Banshee, could you tell me a bit about each gun... Starting with the Auto Rifle" She asks. Banshee happily obliges, "That there is a Auto Rifle. You can empty it by holding down the trigger for a bit. Works best at closer ranges so don't expect to snipe with it". Jess picks up the unloaded gun and brings it to her shoulder, looking down the sights. "Now if you want a rifle for range, a Scout Rifle is what you want. Semi-automatic but one trigger pull is all you'll need". She nods, noticing it is the same model as the one she took the Pikes down with."If you want a middle of the road gun, a Pulse Rifle is what you'd want. Shoots a three-round burst, sure to put anyone in their place". Jess puts the Auto Rifle down, and runs her hand along the Pulse Rifle before looking to the last gun. "This last one is a Hand Cannon with one hell of a kick". Jess picks it up and swivels the chamber open and shut before putting it back on the counter.

She considers her choices carefully, having liked the accuracy of the Scout Rifle. But the fully automatic fire drew her to the Auto Rifle a bit. After a few minutes Jess finally picks a gun off the table. "A fine choice" Banshee remarks, storing the other guns away. She holds her gun sideways and they begin to head off to the hanger. Banshee calls out to them, "Now you take good care of that gun, I'd hate to see it get dirty". Jess turns and nods before holstering her gun of choice. "I see you're taking after Cayde and myself with that Hand Cannon" GLX jokingly says, whist giving her a light punch to the shoulder on the way into his ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Better late than never. The story begins during the tail end of the House of Wolves expansion for D1. Also this normally won't go more that two weeks without a new chapter


	5. Can't Wait for Later

"So where's the training grounds?" Jess questions, eager to break in her hand cannon. "When Cayde says 'the training grounds' what he really means is trial by fire" GLX responds. "Wait, so like, actual enemies?!" confusion and panic in her voice. "Yep, nothing you can't handle though. Just some Fallen in the Cosmodrome" He reassures her. They both put their helmets on and walk to the back of the ship. The ramp opens, but as Jess is about to walk down it she realizes the ship is hovering a considerable distance from the ground. "Aren't you gonna land it?" Jess asks. GLX shakes his head and takes a running jump off of the end of the ramp, but somehow slows himself down just a few feet from the ground below. "How'd you do that?" Jess asks in awe. "Channel your Light to your feet, imagine a net catching you" GLX replies over the comm channel. Jess closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths. After a few seconds, she opens her eyes and sprints off the ramp. _Oh god, just think of a net Jess, just think of a- _Her thoughts are cut short by a feeling of weightlessness before realizing her feet are on solid ground. "See, I knew you had it in you" GLX proudly gives her a pat on the back. "Now lets get moving" He draws his hand cannon and starts to move. Jess looks overhead to see the ship fly off and sprints after the Exo. When she catches up with GLX, he is standing above something in a field with old, rusted cars strung about.__

"What's that?" Jess asks curiously. "That's a boar" Her Ghost exclaims, quickly flying over to it. The boar is lying with it's right side on the ground, squealing in fear. The Ghost quickly scans it and checks for abnormalities. "I'm reading low blood pressure, can one of you flip it over" he asks. GLX carefully flips the boar over and immediately notices a stab wound with odd scaring surrounding it. GLX quickly draws and levels his hand cannon, scanning the field. Jess draws her gun and mirrors his movements, "What's going on?" "This is a Fallen ambush. The boar got stabbed with a shock knife", He answers just as a wire shot whizzes past his head. He quickly dives behind a car and pulls Jess down with him. "Your Ghost, you've gotta get it over here" he yells to her as he grabs his scout rifle off his back and brings it to his shoulder, shooting to suppress the Fallen sniper. Jess crawls closer to her Ghost before speaking, "You need to get over here, you're in the open!" Her Ghost quickly looks to her "This animal will die in the next two minutes if I don't do something. I'll get lower, just cover me", he starts to project a healing beam onto the boar. Jess shakes her head and scrambles to cover on the opposite side. GLX stops firing and looks to her, to which she silently replies by leveling her gun. He looks back to his sights and start shooting to kill. Jess spots a dreg to the right, running towards her. She fires three shots at it, hoping at least one would hit. One shot misses it's mark but the other two hit center mass, sending it flying backwards. Looking to her left, there are two more dregs, one with a knife and one with a pistol. She aims her hand cannon to the pistol wielder and discharges a round, hitting it's left shoulder. The dreg quickly recovers from the blow and fires a small burst, all hitting the car Jess was behind. GLX looks over and swiftly blasts of the head of the pistol wielder before returning his attention to the wire rifles. The knife wielder had managed to avoid the Exo's sight and rushes the exposed Ghost, with it's blade above his head. Jess barely notices the dreg and dives and grabs it's leg, causing it to trip. She removes her own knife from it's sheathe and stabs it into the leg she is grasping. The dreg slashes her in retaliation, grazing her forearm. She winces before pulling the dreg closer and puncturing it's skull with her blade.

A barrage of gunshots ring out followed by some wire rifle shots impacting the decaying metal of the car GLX is using as cover. "I can't get shots off from here! Take my rifle and take them out" He yells, tossing his scout rifle over to Jess. She catches the gun and quickly aims for the faint blue light of Fallen wire rifles charging, and shoots until the rifle runs dry. She drops the magazine and hears the sound of soft footsteps behind her. She grabs the barrel with both hands like a club and swings it towards the noise. A short yelp is the barely able to escape the vandal as it's skull is caved in by the gun stock. Jess grips the rifle normally again, loads it, and discharges more round into the blue lights of the rifles. GLX draws his hand cannon and puts down any dregs or vandals trying to get close. As the Fallen retreat, Jess hands GLX his rifle back and walks over to her Ghost.

"You are one reckless little guy, aren't you" She says, slightly annoyed. The Ghost turns his healing beam off and turns to her. "I know, but I managed to save the boar" He replies, delighted once the boar gets to it's feet. Instead of running off, the boar walks close to Jess. "Guess he likes you" GLX says surprised. Jess crouches down and reaches out her hand and the boar immediately rubs it's head on her hand. She giggles a bit, happy to see the previously helpless animal back on it's feet. "So how do Ghosts get their names? Is there a special system or is it already assigned" She asks, petting the boar. "It can be whatever you and your Ghost agree upon. Heather got her name from an old type of plant that is her namesake. It was described as 'a flowering evergreen plant that thrives on peaty barren lands' by the Cryptarchs. We thought it was a nice name with some meaning behind it", GLX smiles. "How about I call you 'Wild Boar', or 'Boar'?" Her Ghost looks to her and just stares. "Wait, Wild Boar, Wildboar, Wildbor. How about 'Wilbur'?" She suggests. The Ghost's eye lights up bright, "Wilbur isn't that bad. I kinda like it." GLX places a hand on Jess' shoulder, "Come on, we should move before the Fallen come back." "But what about the boar, it'll just get attacked again" She starts making longer strokes on the boar's fur. "It’s lived this long in the wild, so it'll be fine on it’s own. If we’ve imprinted on it, that’s a different story” GLX looks around. “Stay close to me, strength in numbers.” He says in a firm tone. Jess gets to her feet and watches the boar get up and run off. She smiles, then draws her gun and begins to follow GLX through the scrapyard of ruined cars


	6. Campfire Stories

The pair of Hunters trek their way through the field of rusted metal, carefully scanning the area for any traps or ambushes. "You handled yourself well under the pressure back there" GLX praises Jess. "All stuff you've taught me" She humbly replies. GLX's eyes snap forward and fixate on something in the distance. Before Jess can locate what he's looking at, she is swiftly tackled to the ground behind a car by GLX. She blushes under her helmet from embarrassment, and promptly pushes the Exo off of her. "W-what was that for?" she asks sheepishly. GLX pushes himself up to a kneel and carefully peaks around their cover, squinting beneath his helmet. He exhales sharply in relief and turns to Jess, who is now sitting up against the rusted metal. "I'm getting paranoid..." he states, "I thought the sunlight passing through the light bar of that police car was a sniper." "Why's that? I though wire rifles glowed blue, not red" Jess tilts her head in confusion. "Fallen wire rifle glow blue, correct, but there are far more enemies that would want to see us dead... we can talk about this later once we set up camp, for now let's get moving." Jess silently nods and they start to move out.

As the sun sets, the two Guardians set up camp, consisting of two tents and a campfire. Stones had been carefully placed in a circle around the fire, and log the two Guardians are sitting on next to the fire with their helmets beside it. "You're pulling your weight already" GLX smiles, placing a hand on Jess' shoulder. "Doesn't feel like I am, you've been doing most of the work. You're in combat and keeping an eye on me, I only focus on the enemies" She replies, looking down into the blaze of flames. "Don't sell yourself short, you haven't even had your first death yet. I had mine in just an hour after being revived, and Cayde died his first time within the minute he got rezzed." GLX reassures her. "You don't have to lie about it, I'm sure the two of you had weeks before your first deaths" She replies to the unbelievable response. "No, it's true. Your first life has been longer than most Guardians I know" He cheerfully replies. "Huh. Alright then, I still don't fully believe you" She looks back towards the fire, extending her hands to warm them.

"I owe you an explanation, about why I tackled you to the ground like that" GLX says, looking down. Jess' face becomes a rose pink, recalling the embarrassing moment. "I-" he pauses, "I need you to promise me you won't tell anyone I told you this, you shouldn't know about this stuff yet." Jess looks to him and nods, her cheeks still red. "There are some people out there that don't like Guardians, enough to try to kill our Ghosts and snuff out our Light... They don't appreciate the sacrifices we make to protect them and the City, to them we are guards of a prison, when we are really the sheep dogs guiding and protecting the flock" He tosses a stick into the fire, "I thought that red light was a sniper scope, someone hoping to get one of us." Jess sits still and silent after hearing what the Exo just said. Fear, disbelief, anger, all start to flow through her mind. "I... I shouldn't have told you all of that, you're still trying to wrap your head around this world you've been brought into." He gets up and gives Jess a pat on her shoulder, "I'm gonna get some rest, you should when you're ready" and with that he walks to his tent. Jess is left to stare into the crackling fire for a while before deciding to get some sleep.


	7. 20/20

GLX shakes Jess awake, his helmet already on. "Come on, we're leaving", he extends his hand to her. Jess takes his hand and is promptly pulled to her feet, "Is something wrong?" she asks, her senses still waking up. "Yes, I'll tell you on the way back to the Tower", he points to his landed ship. She nods and starts walking to the boarding ramp. Soon followed by GLX, who double checks the camping gear is properly secured. He then walks into the cockpit and sits down, flicking a few switches before stepping on the throttle. "So, why'd we need to leave?" she asks, a bit sad their expedition had been cut short. "You're not ready, this stuff is too much for you to handle without any powers" GLX replies, his head down. "But what about the fight we had with the Fallen? I handled myself!" she yells annoyed. "You got lucky... And it just emphasizes my point that you aren't ready because not even your Ghost is ready" he mutters under his breath. "So this-this is how it's going to be? You're just gonna ditch me at the Tower?" her eyes start to tear up. "I'm not 'ditching' you, I'm saving you from dying!" Jess just stares in disbelief, "I... I'm not going anywhere, Cayde gave you the responsibility to train me!" she slams he fist down on an armrest. "Fine, you want to try and do that, let me just spell it out for you. Your. Ghost. Chose. Wrong."

When the ship finally lands after what felt like forever, GLX spares no time to take Jess with him to meet Cayde. When the three of them arrive in a secluded room, Cayde is the first to speak. "So, I heard there were some problems between the two of you... GLX, Jess is no longer assigned to you. You are dismissed while I chat with our little friend here". GLX nods, stands up and leaves. "I did nothing! He just doesn't like me as much as I thought he did!" Jess yells at the Hunter Vanguard. "Look, you're making all of us look bad enough already, so I suggest you shut it. Now I can try to sugarcoat this whole mess, or I can be flat out blunt. You know what, you don't get a say, I'm going blunt. You're useless. There, I said it, now go ball your eyes out like the bitch you are!" he yells, slamming his metal fist on the desk. Jess throws herself back in her chair, causing it to fall backward. As she hits the floor, she suddenly finds herself in a field of grass, with only two figures standing before her. The first one she can make out as GLX, but the second person is unrecognizable, their face and body shrouded in a dark smoke. Suddenly the mysterious figure draws a gun and shoots GLX. He flies backwards and as soon as his body hits the ground, his corpse releases a blinding white light. Once her eyes adjust, Jess sees the black figure sitting next to a campfire, along side them is... herself. They are sharing drinks and laughing as good friends would do. Jess' heart sinks like a rock in the ocean.

Jess jolts upright from her sleeping bag, finding herself inside her tent. Not trusting it, she gives herself a slap across the face. Wincing in slight pain, Jess can determine that she is truly awake from the nightmare. Footsteps quickly approach the tent, and GLX peaks his head inside, “Are you okay?” He asks, worried. He examines her face more closely and spots the read imprint of her hand on her cheek, “Why’d you do that? Bad dream or something?” “None of your business” she coldly replies. “Alright... Well I’ll get breakfast ready, how’d you like your eggs? Scrabbled, sunnyside up?” “I’m not hungry, I’ll be out in a bit” Jess lies back down. GLX lightly shrugs and leaves his student to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small Update: I’ve started College meaning my schedule is all out of wack. I will try to keep the every two weeks goal I had set but if I don’t I hope you’ll understand why


	8. Embers

When Jess exits her tent, she is meet with smell and sound of sizzling bacon and eggs with the flames dancing around the bottom of the pan GLX is watching. "Glad to see you up and about, I was worried that I unknowingly did something to offend you" GLX smiles. He takes the pan away from the flames and holds the pan out to Jess, "Would you like some eggs and bacon?" She looks at him a bit confused but then responds, "Sure, I don't see why not" and takes a seat. The exo hands the pan to his student. She looks at him confused. "Field lesson number one, use your knife to eat. We don't have the luxury of silverware out here" He states, putting a new pan over the flames. Jess shrugs, unsheathes her blade and uses the tip to carefully pick up pieces of food. "See, you're a natural". 

The two Hunters continue to talk for what felt like hours to Jess. GLX was in the middle of a story when he looks at a broken mirror on one of the decayed cars littering the area around their camp. He squints before quickly turning to something in the distance. He stares for a few seconds before quickly drawing his scout rifle and running to cover. Jess turns to look at what her mentor had noticed to see blue lights in the distance. She draws her hand cannon and levels it. “Jess! Get dow-“ GLX’s voice is overpowered by a wire shot whizzing through the air. The huntress’ ears are filled with ringing as her body is thrown back, her weapon falling into the flames of the campfire. Lying on the ground, she looks towards her attacker, gasping for air. Looking down slightly, her warm blood is rapidly pooling in her chest. Jess’ eyes go wide before her vision blackens.

The next thing the huntress knows, there's a dim blue light growing brighter and brighter. Suddenly, she realizes that the blue light is Wilbur and she jolts upwards. She immediately takes cover behind the log she was previously sitting on and takes a moment. "What the hell?" she puts a hand to her head, feeling dizzy. "I just revived you again, I've been told you'll get used to it" Wilbur answers. Jess feels her stomach in her mouth, almost about to lose her breakfast. "I need- need a minute". "But only a minute, alright?" GLX jokingly says, having managed to get next to her. The exo calmly holds an empty fist upwards and leaps into the air, his hand glowing a deep purple before manifesting in to a bow. His free hand draws the string and a arrow forms, and just as quickly he lets the arrow fly. It hits the ground with a thud as Jess peaks over the log. "You missed" she states. "You'd think I'd miss that easy of a shot?" and right on queue, the fletching transforms into a ball, and tentacle like appendages shoot out and pierce the body of each Fallen that happened to be too close. "What the hell is that!?!" The huntress yells, completely awe struck from the sight.

"Grab your gun before it gets too hot, this fight isn't done yet" GLX yells to Jess while moving to better cover. Without thinking, the huntress reaches her hand into the fire and pulls out her gun before running to cover. As she levels it, she realizes bright orange flames have engulfed both of her arms. Jess drops the gun onto the ground beneath her, the grass setting ablaze. "Jess! Grab it and lift it skyward!" She takes a few seconds to think, but ends up trusting her mentor's seemingly silly advice and raises her firearm to the Sun. As she does this the flames grow in intensity, running all the way up her arms, the warmth seeping into her chest. Bringing the gun down, Jess realizes the gun in now encased with flame, yet not hurting her. _This is so damn cool_ she thinks to herself, before pointing the molten gun towards her foes. Pulling the trigger has the gun fire a flaming shot, so hot it causes the body it enters to erupt into flames. After firing off five more shots, all of the Fallen have been turned to ash and her weapon's flames have fizzled out. Turning to GLX, she goes to speak but is quickly interrupted. "Huh... I should've expected that you'd be a Gunslinger, seems so obvious now".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, sorry it's been a while but if you didn't read the update in the previous chapter I recently started college so my writing schedule is thrown off. I don't know how often I'll be able to write but I'll try to get chapters out as soon as possible


	9. Warm Embrace

On the way back to the Tower, Jess wondered what else she was capable of, while also trying to learn from her first Guardian death. "So, how often can I, you know, turn all my foes to ash with a kick ass flaming revolver!" She excitedly asks her mentor. "Probably not as often as you'd like. Technically you can do it whenever you want once you work on handling your Light more, but even after training, I wouldn't recommend more that twice an hour. You're going to be exhausting yourself really quickly with that many uses" GLX replies from the pilot seat. "How long will I need to train to harness my Light?" the huntress asks. "Depends on the Guardian, some take weeks while others take years. I'm not sure which you'll fall under.”

As the ship drops the pair off in the courtyard, GLX quickly leads Jess to a small meeting room, in which Cayde was awaiting their return. "Well, who do we have here?" the Hunter Vanguard jokingly asks. "What? Forgot my pretty face already?" Jess replies to humor him. "Ah don't kid yourself, princess" he makes a dismissive motion to her. The Huntress swiftly fires back, "If I'm the princess, then you must be my unicorn". GLX tries to hide a chuckle, but quickly gives up on hiding it after Cayde bursted out laughing. “I’m liking you more by the second, kid. Let's get started on the debrief though” Cayde pulls out a couple of papers. "Subject matter, Guardian trainee Jess, ID number blah blah blah" He tosses all but one paper behind him. "I can't believe you type all that out just because Zavala says to, but the footnotes are great" he looks down to the paper and quickly looks it over. "Alright, more my style, so you learned to use your Light to assist you mid-air by jumping out of a ship, nothing new. Fought off Fallen again while... defending your Ghost as he... he healed a wild boar?! You've gotta be pulling my leg here G" GLX just looks to him and shakes his head. "Do you know how dangerous that was? Your Ghost is everything, if they die then you will too" Cayde informs the Huntress. Wilbur swiftly appears beside his Guardian, "It was my fault, I felt too bad for the thing and healed it, despite warnings from both of them". Cayde just shakes his head and continues reading, "And your Ghost has been named ‘Wilbur’, after said boar he saved. That’s one hell of a first official outing, surprised you’ve even agreed upon a name for your Ghost. Now onto more ‘Zavala’ stuff” 

Cayde then hands GLX a thick folder of papers, “This is all the paperwork for you to be her mentor and all that boring crap” He then walks over to Jess and hands her an envelope, “And this is your identification card and dog tags, I hope you won’t need the latter but can never be too sure” He smiles. “So what will GLX and I be doing?” Jess curiously asks. “Well, currently you’re only cleared to take some bounties. Do a bunch of those and we’ll have the confidence to move you to other things” Jess nods in understanding before turning to her official mentor. “We’re gonna stick to the Cosmodrome for now, mostly just Fallen in there as our other enemies will be daunting for you” He states. Cayde gives a nod goodbye as GLX and Jess head off to get their hands dirty once again. “Kid has potential, more than most. Probably why GLX decided to take her under his wing. ‘Unicorn’ ha”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally think I have time to write again, will keep you all posted!


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